Individual butter pack



Sept 1936. v

J. L. BURKE INDIVIDUAL BUTTER PACK F iled Jan. 17, 1935 ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 22, 1936 rrao STATES INDIVIDUAL BUTTER PACK James L. Burke, Weehawken, N. J., assignor to Eldorado Escalator Company, Union City, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application January 17,1935, Serial No. 2,143

Claims.

My present invention relates to the packaging more especially of butter, which is characterized by its adhesiveness, with respect to paper, and is more especially concerned with the preparation 5 of individual butter pats.

As conducive to a clear understanding of the invention, it is noted that butter pats, such as dispensed in restaurant and hotel service, have not heretofore been obtainable as such, since creameries in the past have supplied their product only in tubs or in half-pound. or pound bricks. The molding and storing of butter pats by the hotel or restaurant, however, involves an investment for dies or molds, expenditure for labor and careful spacing of the pats in the refrigerator to prevent them from adhering together. These diiiiculties account for the fact that molded individual butter pats are rarely, if ever used in the home.

.20 An object of the invention is to provide an arrangement for delivering butter from the creamery or from a special butter packaging plant, not in bulk, or in completely wrapped pound bricks, but in individual pats, useful alike for restau- 25 rants, hotels and the home, and more especially to accomplish the result without increase of cost as compared with the packaging of butter in bulk.

Another object is to provide a pat of the above 30 type,which lends itself readily to packaging of a multiplicity thereof, in a single container, without the need for separators between the pats and yet with assurance against adhesive contact of neighboring pats.

35 Another object is to provide adequately protected individual pats or blocks which admit of convenient and instant exposure of the pat, without the need for handling the butter.

Another object is to provide a protected pat or 40 block of the above type, which lends itself readily to being prepared by automatic machinery and which obviates waste and dispenses with the need for pasting, stapling or otherwise securing a wrapper with respect to the contents.

In the accompanying drawing in which are shown one or more various possible embodiments of the several features of the invention:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of butter pat in the process of being opened.

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view with parts broken away, showing the carton with the butter pats i 55 packed therein for delivery and Fig. 4 is a perspective view similar to Fig. 1 of a modification,

Referring now to Fig. 1, there is shown a small rectangular block of butter, such as commonly served in hotels and restaurants as an individual 5 butter pat. According to the invention, this pat is wrapped in a rectangular blank of paper of relatively still texture, extending clear about the lateral surface, including face I2 of the pat, but exposing the ends of the pat, one of which 10 is shown at l3.

In a preferred embodiment, the paper wrapper I4 is of width greater than the length of the pat, and afiords a protruding border l5 preferably about A inch wide beyond each end l3 of the 15 pat. The wrapper becomes adhesively bonded throughout the area of contact with the butter, said area being preferably the entire surface of the pat, other than the exposed ends i3.

The narrow uninterrupted borders of paper used, protruding from opposite ends of the butter are sumciently self-sustaining in character to perform all of the functions hereinafter set forth.

Preferably the butter wrapper is of length considerably greater than the peripheral length of the pat, and has a crease or fold line l6 for an out-turned extension I1, aifording a ilap superposed over the subjacent portion l8 of the wrapper, which in turn adhesively sticks to the butter.

The wrapper at its opposite end adheres to the face I2 of the butter pat, substantially up to the crease l5 and the outer extremity I9 is superposed over the out-turned extension I! which keeps extremity I9 free from contact with the butter. It is .desirable to have the two opposite end edges 20 and 2| of the wrapper in close contiguity and to have neither edge protrude beyond the limiting area of the wrapped pack, but preferably the upper flap I9 extends slightly beyond the lower fiap I! as shown.

By the arrangement set forth, the protruding flaps l1 and I9 may be readily lifted with the thumb, and may then be separated and stripped off the butter pat, preferably by engaging the back of the pat with the middle fingers, the flaps l1 and I9 being held between the thumbs and index fingers while drawing the flaps apart about the middle fingers as a fulcrum, resulting in the wrapper being stripped olf the pat, which drops intact upon the dish. Thus the wrapper is removed in an instant without the hand touching the butter.

The pat described and the other embodiment shown and described below, may be conveniently wrapped by automatic machinery, which is no part of the invention claimed herein, and therefore, not described.

Referring to Fig. 3, the pat of Fig. 1 lends itself readily to being packaged in a. cardboard container 22 in a succession of rows and tiers, as shown, in which the open ends of the wrapped pats are spaced from each other, by the protruding borders l5 of the wrappers as shown, said paper being sufilciently stiff for the purpose. The extreme pats are similarly spaced by their protruding border I5 from the walls of the package.

By the arrangement set forth, it is seen that the butter pats being adhesively held in their individual wrappers and spaced by their border 'ends l5 are kept out of contact with respect to each other, and with respect to the wall of the package, and the spacing of said pats also defines inert air spaces, serving as heat insulation. separating spacers between successive rows of tiers of pats is thus dispensed with. Any pat may be easily withdrawn from the package by grasping the pat at exposed flaps |l-I9.

The need for keeping the pats in contact with cracked ice to prevent adhesion, a common source of difiiculty in restaurant and hotel experience is completely obviated by the present invention. The wrapped pats may be simply placed in an otherwise empty bowl in a cool chamber and the relatively stiif protruding paper border longitudinally of the wrapper absolutely precludes the possibility of the butter of one pat engaging that of another.

If the butter wrapper were made to completely enwrap the pat the difflculty would be encountered that the folded ends would have a tendency to open unless the paper were too thin or limber to serve and with the greater amount of manipulation required in removing the wrapper the pat, if particularly hard would be apt to break in handling and if softer the corners of the pat would adhere to some or all eight corners of the wrapper.

By the present invention the unsanitary practice of waiters touching the butter pat and leaving finger prints thereon is completely obviated and yet the wrapper may be readily peeled off either by the waiter or by the patron without the hands at any time touching the butter.

Incidentally the wrapper of width greater than the length of the pat affords a considerable area for advertising space and its general attractiveness is a substantial advaitager In Fig. 4 is shown a modification, which differs from Fig. 1 merely in the elimination of the turned back flap H, the wrapper in that case being kept free from contact with the butter at its outer extremity I9 by the opposite end I8 thereof. Wrapper end I9 affords a pull tab by means of which the wrapper can be stripped from oil! the butter, though with less convenience than in the other embodiments,'the border I4 serving as a finger hold.

It is understood that the invention is not limited to pats or blocks of the particular shapes shown, but is applicable to triangular, hexagonal, octagonal, trapezoidal or other prismatic shapes of a wide variety.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely dif- By the arrangement shown, the use of ferent embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope of the claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A butter pat presenting two ends, a relatively stiff pliable wrapper substantially completely encircling the lateral surface of said pat, and leaving the ends exposed, said wrapper being of width greater than the length of the pat to form self-sustaining borders protruding beyond the exposed ends of the butter said wrapper being of length to afford a pull tab free from engagement with the pat for facility in stripping the wrapper therefrom.

2. A butter pat presenting two ends, a pliable wrapper of relatively stiff paper completely encircling said pat and leaving said ends exposed, said wrapper having at least one of its ends overlapping the opposite end of said wrapper and free from engagement with said butter to afford a convenient pull tab for release of the butter therefrom, the wrapper being of width greater than the length of the butter pat to form uninterrupted, narrow borders protruding beyond the exposed ends of the butter.

3. A butter pat, a wrapper about the lateral surfaces thereof leaving the ends of the pat exposed, said wrapper of length greater than the peripheral length of the pat, the excess length of the wrapper extending from opposite ends thereof, and superposed over the wrapped pat, and within the limiting area thereof, one of said wrapper ends folded outwardly and overlapping the'part of the wrapper from which it is folded,

the opposite ends of the wrapper extending over said outwardly folded end, with the extremities of said wrapper in contiguous relation for facility of grasping and separation in stripping the wrapper from the pat, said wrapper being of width greater than the length of the butter pat to form uninterrupted borders protruding beyond the exposed ends of the butter.

4. The butter pat as claimed in claim 3 in which the extremity of the outer flap extends slightly beyond the extremity of the outwardly folded fiap for facility in separation of the flaps prior to gripping the same in removal of the wrapper from the butter.

5. A package having a multiplicity of wrapped butter pats enclosed therein in rows and tiers, each of said pats having a wrapper completely enclosing and adhesively bonded to the entire lateral surface thereof between the exposed ends thereof, each of said wrappers of width greater than the length of said pat, and extending beyond said ends, whereby the pats in end to end relation within the package will present separating spaces therebetween and between the extreme pats and the contiguous package wall, thereby affording heat insulating air jackets and preventing direct adhesive contact between contiguous pats, the wrapper of each of said pats being of length greater than the peripheral length of the pat, to afford tabs normally against the pat, and useful for stripping the wrapper from off the pat.

JAMES L. BURKE. 

